What is intermittent fasting?

Here at Nush Foods we talk a lot about WHAT to eat (namely, protein, fiber, and fat), and what NOT to eat (namely, sugar and processed carbs).

But now let's talk a little bit about WHEN to eat. Because that matters too, and that's what intermittent fasting is all about — deliberately going for certain periods of time without consuming any calories at all.

And it makes sense, because (like many other species) we did not evolve to go around fully-fed every hour of every day. Our pre-historic ancestors could go long periods of time without bringing in game animals or other food.

That's why we evolved to store fat, i.e., fuel, in our bodies, so we could go for a period of time without food and still have fuel to access for the energy we need to keep functioning.

Unfortunately, that fat-storing ability is now working against us. As it's been said, we evolved on the African Savanna, and now we're living in Candy Land. So for many people, we're not using our fat stores, and too often we're just adding to them.

Now, studies are showing that intermittent fasting can help reverse the excess storage of fat, otherwise known as obesity, and some of the negative stuff that goes along with it: diabetes and heart disease to name a few.

One reason intermittent fasting works is that if you go for, say, 18 hours without food, you burn through all the calories you consumed in your last meal long before you have another meal, and your body is forced to turn to your fat stores for energy.

But 18 hours without food isn't necessarily the gold standard. Some people do intermittent fasting by going longer periods without food — a whole day or more, on a planned and intermittent basis. Some people just have an early dinner every evening and then don't eat again until lunch the next day. If you try it you'll see what works and what's workable for you.

The important thing is that when your body is forced to turn to your own stored fat for fuel, that makes you a fat-burning machine instead of a carb-burning machine. And the first one is the one we want to be!